Insanity Doesn't Come With Age
by Hovinarri
Summary: He's just a six-year old. Nothing for Yugi to lose his sanity over. Absolutely nothing. But why does Yugi have to look after him? The kindergarten is full of people... Oh well. AU, contest entry


Ouch. I'm sorry for still not dropping out like I should've... ._.

Crossshipping contest entry! Tier 4! owo As in Yugi x Yami Marik... Yeah.

I'm in such a hurry again... I wish I could've done this better. I wish I... Something. Oh well. I tried, it's the thought that matters... Right?

But I was so determined to write some half-fluff in this contest! So determined... It kept me going while writing the other tiers. "Soon I can write fluff, soon I can write fluff..."

And again I wrote something different. Why? Because it's better to try everything once. Just don't think I've actually gotten this... Sucky. Suckier than before... Suckiest... Something.

Oh and humor. I'm sorry, I should've never tried writing humor.

**I don't own. Anything except the plot.**

* * *

><p>"That kid? And why is he suddenly mine to look after?" Yugi asked, looking up from his cup of coffee. He didn't even like coffee, but it kept his mind awake.<p>

Just what you needed to tackle another day full of screaming six-year-old kids.

"Because there really isn't anyone else who hasn't yet tried to get a grip on him." his boss, Kisara, informed him, "Please, just a few days!"

"How about Miho-chan? She's really great with little kids, after all..." Yugi suggested, though he and Miho didn't actually get along. Anything to evade this particular little child.

"Miho-kun tried first. Left crying, ring a bell?"

Oh.

"What about Ryou-kun?" Yugi tried smiling at the name, but it might have come out pretty stupid-looking. Actually, it probably had. Yugi tried to mirror his face from his spoon, and ended up deciding that his smile really did look forced.

All this was because Ryou and Yugi had been best friends until Ryou met his boyfriend Bakura. After this, Ryou started hanging out with Bakura all the time.

And it changed him. The white-haired teenager was hardly the Ryou Yugi once knew... Part of the reason why Yugi couldn't help but utterly dislike Bakura and act a little alerted around Ryou. And he was very wary about people in general these days. He didn't want to meet another Ryou and be best friends if they had to go seperate ways in the end. Even Yugi's boyfriend couldn't really help remove the pain, only slowly soothe it into nothing. But it really was such a slow process, Yugi wasn't sure if he'd snap before it fully healed.

"Ryou-kun is on his vacation, remember?"

Oh, right. On his vacation. On his vacation in Florida… with Bakura. No wonder Yugi had forgotten all about it.

"How much coffee does it take for you to wake up?" Kisara sighed frustratedly.

Yugi glanced back at his still unfinished cup of coffee and raised it in the air. "This much," he said with a shrug. He wasn't looking forward to going out there at all, but it was something he would have to do sooner and later.

(Though he'd rather have later, but Atem Yugi's roommate (and boyfriend, frankly), always complained about it when Yugi couldn't sleep all night after drinking way too much coffee. And even two cups was too much for him.)

"Fine. You finish that and then we'll talk."

"So..." Yugi stretched after finishing his coffee (and waking up), "Everyone has tried? Even Jounouchi-kun?"

"Even Jounouchi-kun," Kisara confirmed with a stiff nod, "I did not lie to you when I said 'everyone'."

"So I have to try if I want to keep my job?" Yugi guessed. He knew Kisara wouldn't probably fire him, but he still wasn't willing to risk it.

Kisara opened her mouth, only to quickly close it right away. "Yes," she said, most likely lying.

With a sigh, Yugi got up to go find the little monster they had been talking about. "But if you don't see me leave for home, I expect you to call an ambulance."

"Yugi-kun, you are over-"

The door shut itself behind Yugi before Kisara could finish her sentence, but had it been...

'Overreacting'? Yugi? Oh please, the tricolor-haired teenager did not join the drama club seven years ago for nothing.

His eyes carefully scanned the room where the kids currently were, but he couldn't find the one he was looking for.

Mariku was his name.

Mariku was pretty quiet, but something about him intimidated people. Something about the way his eyes seemed to bore suspiciously right _through_everyone around him...

That was probably part of the reason.

Mariku's looks were Kisara had said that, although she was Egyptian, too.

The little Egyptian had deep violet eyes with the afore-mentioned gaze, and his blonde hair always seemed to defy gravity by shooting up in totally weird directions.

All this topped with his tan skin, one would think he wouldn't be that hard to find, right?

Wrong.

Mariku could very well go unnoticed when he wanted to. He could be so small and tiny and just kind of blended in with the background if he sat in some forgotten corner.

So Yugi tried calling him by his name.

"Mariku-kun! Mariku-kun! Mariku-kun?"

The blonde didn't answer, but Yugi still found him by checking all the corners.

"Why didn't you answer me? I called your name many times, Mariku-kun!" Yugi asked him, annoyed because he was sure the little brat had heard him.

Mariku snarled at the second sentence and turned away from Yugi, pointedly staring at the wall instead of him (And it wasn't even an interesting wall! Just plain white!).

"You... Don't like your name?" Yugi guessed, sitting next to the other. That would possibly explain the way Mariku was acting, after all.

The Egyptian six-year old shook his head and pointed at himself, "Mariku-_sama_." He emphasized the honorific to make Yugi understand his point.

Yugi facepalmed, even though he knew it was slightly disrespectful towards the other. But seriously... Mariku-sama? The little brat was (almost) twenty years younger than Yugi! Yugi was superior to him! He had to be!

"Mariku...sama?" Yugi repeated slowly.

Mariku nodded proudly, pointing at Yugi with a (very threatening) piece of chalk, "And you are Mariku-sama's slave!"

"What?" The twenty-four year old cried, waving his hands in disagreement, "No I'm not!"

"What did you say?" Mariku asked, his eyes narrowing, "Did Mariku-sama hear a... no?"

Yugi took this as a threat, something along the lines of 'Malik left crying, do you want to follow?', and shook his head. "Mariku-sama did not hear a no."

Mariku seemed pleased with this answer, for he nodded. "Good." he then bowed slightly to Yugi. "Nice to meet you, Yugi-kun. I think we might get along."

We might get along- We might get along? What was this kid to decide if they got along-!

Yugi willed himself to calm down; This was just a six-year old. Mariku could never outsmart the other, so there was no need to worry.

"Nice to meet you too... Mariku-sama." Yugi said, smiling. At least someone was still happy that he was there...

Mariku smirked, "I always know a good slave when I see one."

Yugi chuckled, rolling his eyes, "And the others haven't been good enough? Like, Miho-chan, for an example?"

Shaking his head, Mariku voiced his opinion stubbornly, like the little kid he was. "No. She doesn't know her worth. Miho-chan this, Miho-chan that... She only has eyes for herself."

This surprised Yugi, mostly because Mariku's opinion wasn't too far from his own. Miho always referred to herself as "Miho-chan", and it did get on Yugi's nerves.

They had been friends at some point, but nowadays Yugi couldn't for his life understand why.

"Then what makes me a good slave?" Yugi asked curiously.

"You know Mariku-sama's worth. You could see it when Mariku-sama was unhappy with your actions."

Nodding, the twenty-four year old took this as a weak compliment of some sort.

"Thank you, Mariku-sama."

* * *

><p>The next day, Yugi discovered that Mariku had some slightly suspicious activities in kindergarten.<p>

"You play GTA?" he asked the tan kid dubiously as the surprisingly familiar title screen showed up.

Mariku looked up from the controller in his hands, "Yeah. You do too?"

Yugi shook his head slowly, "No, but my roommate does. But isn't that game... Rated M?

Mariku shrugged dismissedly, "It's owned by the kindergarten."

Yugi highly doubted this, since he had never heard about this from Kisara before. Sure, they had a PlayStation, but Grand Theft Auto... Seriously? From what he had seen, the game had blood and guns and killing, not to mention... All the other things.

But, he reasoned to himself, it sure seemed like a game Mariku would play. Maybe he was lying and actually owned the game?

...how had he got it, in the first place?

Mariku wasn't actually half-bad in the game, at least judging by the little Yugi understood. It wasn't like Mariku hesitated even a little to kill every person in the game that seemed a little bit threatening.

"...You're good at this, Mariku-sama. Have you played before?"

"Meh. Thank you," Mariku replied, killing a few people before properly turning to look at Yugi, "And a couple of times. It's so boring here, you know?"

"Ah. I understand. I apologize if the entertainment here does not suit your tastes." Yugi said with obvious sarcasm, which Mariku apparently missed.

"It's not like you could help it..." Mariku murmured, "You don't really seem that rich."

Yugi grimaced, for Mariku was half right. He didn't really earn that much from his job, and neither did Atem… It was good they could pay for the _rent_.

"Can you play Duel Monsters?" Mariku asked Yugi suddenly.

"Isn't that... A children's card game?" Yugi asked, not even considering that he could actually be honest and tell the kid just how much he loved the game.

Mariku glared at him. "It's not! It's a really great game!"

"Agreed." Yugi finally admitted, though reluctantly, "And yes. I'm kind of good at it, too."

"Good. No one around here is Mariku-sama's level anyways." Mariku said, a little proudly. "Let's duel!" he fished his dueling deck from his pocket, causing Yugi's eyes to widen as he caught a glimpse of the top card.

"You have the Winged Dragon of Ra?" Yugi exclaimed, amazed. The three Egyptian God Cards were rare, so rare, in fact, that despite all his hard work, in eight years, Yugi had only managed to get one in his hands. And Ra was the rarest of them all, too!

...how did the little kid have it?

"Yes. It's Mariku-sama's best friend!"

...his slave was the worker at the kindergarten, and his best friend was a trading card...? Yugi was now officially starting to doubt Mariku's mental stability.

It that wasn't bad enough, Yugi lost the duel.

He was close to tears; he had only lost once or twice before, and now he was actually being taken down by a six-year old?

Mariku, though, didn't seem all too happy about his victory. He only seemed content, like he had seen it all coming. Now that Yugi thought about it, that content smirk had stayed on his face all the time while they had been dueling. Had the kid cheated somehow to guarantee this outcome?

That had to be it. Maybe... Maybe the Winged Dragon of Ra was a fake! That had to be it, it would explain everything!

Yugi smiled at Mariku. "You sure are good at this." He felt the strange urge to bend down and pet Mariku's hair, but it looked so sharp that he decided against it. "Hey, what do you say if I bring us both Duel Disks tomorrow and we can have a rematch?"

The new Kaiba Corp. Duel Disks were really handy. For an example, they would actually malfunction if a rip-off card was used…

"Really?" Mariku's eyes shone, and Yugi felt somewhat relieved to know that he was capable of getting excited about things like a normal kid would. (Because Mariku sure didn't seem normal at times...)

"Really. My grandpa owns a game store, so I can do that."

"That's so cool!" Mariku exclaimed happily.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then!"

* * *

><p>"You sure seem happy to be taking care of "that kid" today, Yugi-kun." Kisara commented in the morning, smiling like she knew something Yugi didn't.<p>

"I'm not happy about it," Yugi disagreed, taking a sip from his coffee, "I'm just... Well-prepared this time. He's really weird."

"You're telling me," Kisara shrugged, "But you did good yesterday. Keep it up and a few days will go in the blink of an eye!"

"I wish," Yugi muttered, finishing his coffee and leaving to find the Egyptian.

He ended up finding him from the same spot as the day before.

"Hi, Mariku...sama!" Yugi greeted him, wincing at the honorific.

Mariku turned to look at him, smirking, "Hi, Yugi-kun. Did you get the Duel Disks?"

Yugi nodded, fishing the items from his bag (He hadn't wanted Kisara or anyone else to question why he had brought them along.) and handing one to Mariku.

"So cool... Can Mariku-sama keep it if he wins?" Mariku turned and twisted the Duel Disk around carefully, "Will we duel now?"

Yugi smiled, "Yes. And yes, let's duel!"

The duel went well for Yugi, as he had managed to take Mariku's life points down to 1000 before the six-year old finally summoned Ra.

Of course, Yugi expected the Duel Disk to malfunction, destroy the card... Something. Anything. Anything to show what a filthy cheater this little brat really was.

But the detailed hologram of Ra just rose from the disk, absolutely nothing wrong with it.

After that, it was quickly another duel lost for Yugi.

Mariku grinned, "Mariku-sama just got a new Duel Disk, it seems."

"How did you do that?" Yugi asked him, annoyed by losing yet again. Also, he would have to explain the missing Duel Disk to his grandpa… "Isn't your Winged Dragon of Ra... A fake?"

Mariku looked really hurt by this; even his massive hair seemed to droop a little as he glared at Yugi. "Mariku-sama despises cheaters. He really does, because he can win fair and square. You're just a sore loser, Yugi-kun."

"I am not a cheater!" Yugi cried, "Or a sore loser!"

"Well neither is Mariku-sama." Mariku turned away from Yugi, hugging his Duel Disk tightly against his chest.

* * *

><p>After that, Yugi didn't talk with Mariku, no matter what Kisara said to him. He just didn't want to; he would need to apologize to Mariku, say that he was wrong to make such claims. But he didn't. Why? He didn't know. It didn't seem so important, maybe? Maybe he just believed Mariku would just... disappear or something.<p>

One night he finally ended up pouring his heart's contents to Atem, who hadn't been able to sleep, either.

Atem listened to Yugi's explanation, not interrupting him once.

After Yugi was finished, his roommate calmly suggested that he should apologize to Mariku, reasoning that Mariku was still too young to understand this and be the one to swallow his pride.

Yugi decided to follow Atem's advice. Atem was so much smarter than himself when it came down to things like this.

But before Yugi could locate Mariku, the other found him.

He tugged at Yugi's sleeve, causing Yugi to turn around. "Mariku-sama?" The small kid looked a little kinder now, so much that even his hair seemed flatter than the last they met.

The other smiled thoughtfully. "I think you could call me by my name, Yugi-san."

Yugi blinked, surprised by this sudden change of heart. "What?"

"My family's going back to Egypt, so I guess this is a goodbye..." Mariku still smiled fondly, "It was nice knowing you. You're a good duelist, you really are."

Yugi blinked as Mariku's father suddenly took his hand and led him away.

"Mariku..." he muttered as the kid was already gone, "I'm sorry!" the second sentence came out louder than he had imagined, but at least the other might _actually_hear it now.

Mariku turned around to mouth, "It's okay."

When Yugi went to question Mariku's sudden departure from Kisara, the female just smiled calmly at him.

"I told you it would be just a few days."

* * *

><p>Yugi was down after Mariku left. So down, actually, that even Atem noticed it, despite the small amount of time they got to spend together with both of them working full hours.<p>

"Why are you so sad over the kid leaving?" Atem asked Yugi suspiciously when they were eating breakfast, "Are you in love with him or something?"

Yugi managed to spit his coffee all over the table, causing it to trail down the sides nicely and flood the floor. "Am I WHAT?" he cried, standing up and knocking his chair down while doing so.

Atem laughed fondly, "You are so clumsy, aibou. Let me help you clean it up."

Nodding, Yugi stood up, "But you have to make me more coffee now. Otherwise I can't wake up… And no, I'm most definitely not in love with him! It's just that..." he sighed heartbrokenly, leaning against the counter.

"Just what?" Atem encouraged Yugi to continue when he trailed off.

"I never got to beat him in Duel Monsters."

* * *

><p>It's over. Hooray.<p>

Yeah, I think... I think you should be happy now. I'm still sorry to have bothered you with this...

Oh and if you didn't get it, I included some canon-ish hints. Mariku is six, Ryou changed after starting to hang out with his yami...

Oh and Mariku turned into hikari Marik in the end. In case you missed it?

Oh and Yugi was bitter by Ryou ditching him like that. That's why he was so unhappy through all of this.

But anyways... if it's not too much of a bother...

Review?


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